This House is NOT for Sale!

Today as I was walking down Willow Avenue to go to the store I noticed a sign on one of the houses (actually it was a note) that said (in no uncertain terms) that "This House Is Not For Sale". I got a smile on my face because I know that these people must have gotten a lot of people asking them if their house was for sale. At least they put up a note that said that it wasn't for sale. Politely speaking the home wasn't the best looking home on the block but that didn't really matter. It can really be hard to maintain a home - especially when its an older home. If and when you don't have the money either you do the work yourself or it just doesn't get done! Now that the weather is starting to get nicer I see more and more people working on their homes and some of them are doing it theirselves. I'm not going to say that they love working on their houses (maybe some of them do) but when the weather is nice they are out there.

I don't know what's the story with the "This House Is Not For Sale" house. It could be any number of reasons. The people that live there may be older and can't do the work theirself or it could be a reason of not having enough money. Whatever the reason is I can certainly identify. Outside work like trimming trees, painting a house or just general outside repairs and maintenance can cost a pretty penny. Not everybody that lives here is rich and there are a lot of older residents who are just getting by with their pension or social security.

I have receive more than a few mailings that said something to the effect of "We want to buy your house" - how they got my name I will never know. I actually had someone knocking on my door asking if this house was for sale (which I thought was rude!). Realators are always on the lookout for houses that are for sale in this area. I have even had people see me outside and ask me if there were any properties in the area that were for sale. I have kept my eye out for properties that are for sale and have given this information to a few of them. As a matter of fact I noticed 2 "for sale" signs today as I was walking to the store. One was right on Cheltenham Avenue between 19th and 17th streets and the other property for sale was a few blocks up.

It's a terrible thing not to be able to pay for repairs or general maintenance but just because a house is not the most prettiest one on the block doesn't mean that it's for sale.